Thinking that there's only room in this
town world for either
WiMAX or LTE? Research firm In-Stat would love to disagree, as a new report from it asserts that both will actually
live on for at least the next little while. Unsurprisingly, it's expected that mobile WiMAX will "outpace LTE over the next few years due to its head start on deployments," and potentially more importantly, the company believes that WiMAX and LTE will take "very different paths." In fact, it's stated that most WiMAX support will come from fixed network carriers looking to spruce up their existing offerings, while LTE expansion will likely be pushed solely (or mostly, anyway) by mobile operators. To us, it all boils down to
support, and it only takes a quick survey of the
field to see that LTE has
the most of
that. For better or worse, it seems the next-gen data war is but beginning, even though
we already thought we were nearing the end.
posted Feb 26th 2009 8:39AM
Can't we all just, get along?
We already have a GSM-CDMA war in the US now, why stop the fighting?
This is why LTE exists...to bring all the cellular networks (CDMA and GSM) to the same platform. But this won't happen until carriers drop GSM, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, CDMA, eVDO and blah blah, and adopt LTE. Japan has stepped in this direction...by 2010 (don't remember the exact dates), GSM (1G and 2G) will no longer exist...all cellular networks will be only 3G.
It would be so good for everyone...the manufacturers won't have to cram so many (read GSM, EDGE, 3G etc etc) radios along with bluetooth, wifi and fm into one little handset. It will be beneficial for the users as there will be less radio waves flying around.
But this is tough for the cellular operators as this will require dumping all the present infrastructure and building a new one. Huge investments so to speak.
The next time I have to order laptops for my staff, I'm going to make sure they have built in SIM cards for broadband access. Teachers/ education staff are the worst people that can use these cellular cards cause the equiptment ends up getting abused and broken over time.
LTE FTW
I know everyone here has a huge woody over 3G (gotta love that reality distortion field), but has anyone here experienced the joy of low latency WWAN? 3G and EVDO can't even begin to provide that and while I'm hoping LTE will be able to resolve that...I really doubt it will.
Does anyone think about latency anyway? Or is it all just about speeds you will never be able to hit? Ugh.
WiMAX's biggest problem right now is that it has poor building penetration. But when you're in a car going 60 miles per hour, it beats the shit out of 3G and EVDO, even with poor WiMAX reception.
I just have this strange feeling that no one at Engadget's actually used WiMAX because I think the article discussed above is spot on.
LTE has a promise of lower latency. I've seen
@eggothewaffle-
I think about WiMAX latency! I just become a Xohm customer on Tuesday and am getting ping times in the 100-110ms range...not the best. Definitely had to make some adjustments to how I use VoIP. Haven't tried online gaming yet but i suspect performance will suffer a bit as well.
As for the mobility, yes, it is very nice. While the network is still spotty in DC, I was able to maintain a decent connection at speeds up to 65mph, at which point it would drop out. In building penetration is pretty bad, esp. in office buildings. Not too bad in my house. 2-4 megs down and 1 meg up reliably. Don't even really need all that much speed since most downloads never break 700kbps on any connection anyhow.
LTE will probably be great, but WiMAX is here now and so far so good.
In building penetration is not a function of WiMAX but a function of frequency. Xohm is using a microwave band which is terrible for that. AT&T ans Verizon Wireless recently acquired 700MHz spectrum will be great in penetrating buildings whether they decided to deploy WiMAX or LTE as they did.
ops, only half my reply made it.
LTE has a promise of lower latency. I've seen latency lower than 10 ms being promised. That would be quite an achievement.
Good article and a relevant one considering the thirst to speed up connectivity and be in synch with the fast lives we would want to lead. LTE may co-exist with Wimax (it's true Wimax has even started sampling out few metros in India and may have just taken the lead). BUT one thing to notice is recession and the -ve mood to proceed with technological developments that involve government owned public enterprises to push revolutionary(LTE) or evolutionary(Wimax) forward. My opinion : Wifi > 3G > Wimax for a while, then > LTE. Once LTE settles in I don't Wimax flourishing. It might just reside where its been that all. If i were to buy a smartphone it would have Wifi and 3G, but if I were to purchase a laptop I would certainly think of "gobi-sque" all in one for EVDO, 3G, Wimax (later on LTE). Once I get hold of LTE I might choose that over Wimax (keeping my wifi n 3G on smartphone in toe). Industrial houses may also choose LTE but Wimax has a couple of years advantage so it may settle in coyly. Its going to be a game between government owned mobile/network carriers vis-a-vis private players as well. Show 'em the money and they'll oblige :-)
WiMax's rollout headstart doesn't matter. ClearWire can't afford to expand as fast as VZW.
By the end of next year, LTE will be in every major market and WiMax will still just be here and there.
Frankly, I think the profitable future of WiMax is in the municipal wireless networks that every other city was so intent on rolling out.
WiMax is a far better technology than wifi for that purpose and the lack of a strong nationwide network wouldn't be an issue.
I remember from years ago, that someone worked out that putting a WiMax tower on top of every Walmart would give something like 70% coverage of the whole country (and most non-coverage where noone lives anyway).
The scope of LTE and WiMax coexisting is more in developing countries as opposed to developed countries. In countries like India, where there isn't still a large broadband network, WiMax could be a good option from the start. In countires like USA, where there is broadband everywhere, it will be tough to switch to WiMax. Same with LTE.
What amazes me is the desperate need to make everything into a zero-sum game. It's always about someone winning rather than having a range of choices each better suited to specfic needs.
WiFi didn't kill off 3G - and 3G didn't kill off WiFi, right?
WiFi -> WiMAX and 3G -> LTE. It's really that simple.
WiMAX has a bunch of really great features that makes it useful in a wide range of applications. WiMAX will be the choice for non-cellco ISPs who want to provide mobile or wireless broadband because the infrastructure costs are way lower, which means smaller companies can get into it.
LTE on the other hand is well suited for cellco deployment. LTE won't go away unless cellcos go away.